Disk block allocation optimization methodology and application

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is equipped with a disk block allocation optimization function for generating, if possible, an alternative disk block allocation for a current disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time for a sequence of file accesses. The function includes logic for tracing the sequence of logical file accesses, then mapping the traced logical file accesses to physical disk blocks to determine the current disk block allocation, logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation, if possible, using the physical trace results, and logic for effectuating the alternate disk block allocation, if generated. In one particular embodiment, the logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation employs a random search approach, while in another embodiment, the logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation employs a heuristic approach.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part application to the following U.S. patent applications:

(a) Ser. No. 08/708,983, entitled Method and Apparatus For Improving Disk Drive Performance, filed on Sep. 6, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,593;

(b) Ser. No. 08/721,826, also entitled Method and Apparatus For Improving Disk Drive Performance, filed on Sep. 27, 1996; now U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,205 and

(c) Ser. No. 08/822,640 entitled Reducing Operating System Start Up/Boot Time Through Disk Block Relocation, filed on Mar. 21, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,896.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to disk block allocation optimization methodology and applications.

2. Background Information

In the art of computer systems, many problems involve optimizing disk block allocations. For example, in the past decade, performance of microprocessor based computer systems have increased dramatically. In particular, the operating speed of microprocessors have increased from the meager 16 MHz to well over 200 MHz. This trend is expected to continue without abatement. Correspondingly, while not as dramatic, performance of system and input/output (I/O) buses have also improved substantially, ensuring the microprocessors have adequate data to work with and kept busy. However, except for the improvement provided by buffering etc., the performance of disk drive has lagged behind. As a result, users are often deprived of the full benefit of the increased performance by the microprocessors. For example, when starting up an application or booting up an operating system, because the large majority of time is often spent on loading the application or operating system routines into memory from a disk drive, a user often does not see an appreciable difference in performance between a system equipped with a 100 MHz microprocessor or a 200 MHz microprocessor. Thus, further improvement in disk drive performance is desirable, and as will be disclosed in more detail below, the present invention provides the desired improvement in disk drive performance as well as other desirable results, which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, upon reading the detailed description to follow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus is equipped with a disk block allocation optimization function for generating, if possible, an alternative disk block allocation for a current disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time for a sequence of logical file accesses. The function includes logic for tracing the sequence of logical file accesses, and then mapping the sequence of logical file accesses to physical disk blocks to determine the current disk block allocation, logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation, if possible, using the physical disk block trace results, and logic for effectuating the alternate disk block allocation, if generated.

In one particular embodiment, the logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation employs a random search approach, while in another embodiment, the logic for generating the alternative disk block allocation employs a heuristic approach.

In one embodiment, the disk block allocation optimization function is a standalone utility. In another embodiment, the disk block allocation optimization function is an integral part of an application. In yet another embodiment, the logical file access tracing logic of the disk block allocation optimization function is an integral part of an operating system, whereas the remainder of the disk block allocation optimization function is a standalone complementary function to the logical file access tracing logic.

In one embodiment, the apparatus is a computer system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the method steps of the present invention;

FIGS. 3a-3 c illustrate three exemplary applications of the present invention;

FIGS. 4a-4 c illustrate the operation flow of the tracer including an embodiment that traces file accesses and subsequently mapping the traced file accessed to physical disk blocks;

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of the physical trace log;

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of the operation flow of the reallocation optimizer;

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the operation flow of the reallocation optimizer;

FIG. 8 illustrates in further details the concept of access run;

FIG. 9 illustrates in further details one embodiment of the “long access run” reallocation step;

FIG. 10 illustrates in further details one embodiment of the “short access run” reallocation step;

FIGS. 11-14 illustrate in further details one embodiment of the coalescing step; and

FIG. 15 illustrates one embodiment of a computer system suitable for programming with the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, various aspects of the present invention will be described. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with only some or all aspects of the present invention. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention.

Parts of the description will be presented in terms of operations performed by a computer system, using terms such as data, flags, bits, values, characters, strings, numbers and the like, consistent with the manner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. As well understood by those skilled in the art, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, and otherwise manipulated through mechanical and electrical components of the computer system; and the term computer system include general purpose as well as special purpose data processing machines, systems, and the like, that are standalone, adjunct or embedded.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete steps in turn in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention, however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent, in particular, the order of presentation.

Referring now to FIG. 1, wherein a simplified illustration of the disk block allocation optimization of the present invention is shown. Illustrated on the top half of the figure are two simplified block representations 10 a and 10 b of a disk drive having eight blocks, block 0 through block 7. Denoted therein inside the blocks accessed by the three accesses of a simple sequence of disk accesses are the access identifiers, access 1, access 2 and access 3. The access pattern denoted in simplified block representation 10 a illustrates the manner in which the three accesses are made, under an hypothetical disk block allocation, without optimization in accordance with the present invention, whereas the access pattern denoted in simplified block representation 10 b illustrates the manner in which the same three accesses are made, under an alternate optimized disk block reallocation, wherein the data previously stored in block 7 have been moved to block 1, in accordance with the present invention.

Illustrated in the bottom half of the figure are illustrative estimates of the access times (in milli-seconds) for the three accesses under the unoptimized and optimized disk block allocations. As shown, and readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the read times are substantially the same for all accesses under either allocation, however, under the optimized disk block allocation, significant amount of time savings will be achieved for seek and rotation times, as the block displacement between the successive accesses are much smaller, as compared to the unoptimized disk block allocation. In other words, by reallocating disk blocks, if it can be done, significant performance improvement can be achieved for a sequence of disk accesses.

As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the above simplified illustration is merely provided for ease of understanding. The problem addressed by the present invention is many times more complex than the simplified illustration. The lengths of the access sequences that are of interest are typically significantly longer. Additionally, many blocks are accessed multiple times in one sequence, and the multiple accesses are not necessarily in the same order. In other words, block x may be accessed n times in a sequence of interest, the first time after accessing block y, the second time after accessing block z, and so forth. Furthermore, not all blocks are available for re-allocation. Thus, the optimized disk block reallocation is seldom as simple as reallocating the disk blocks into a group of contiguous disk blocks, as illustrated by block representation 10 b.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the method steps of the disk block allocation optimization of the present invention. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, a trace is first generated for a sequence of accesses that are of interest, step 22. The trace includes either the disk locations accessed or information that can be used to determine the disk locations accessed. Next, one or more attempts are made to generate an alternate disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time, as determined by a cost function, step 24. An example of a simple cost function, for illustrative purpose, is T=d×c1+c2+c3, where T=access time, d is seek distance, c1 is seek time per unit of seek distance, c2 is rotation time, and c3 is read time. If at least one of the attempts is successful, the data are remapped into the alternate disk block allocation that yields the most improvement in overall access time, step 28. Otherwise, the original disk block allocation is retained, step 30.

FIGS. 3a-3 c illustrate three exemplary applications of the disk block allocation optimization function of the present invention. In FIG. 3a, the disk block allocation optimization function of the present invention is packaged as standalone disk block reallocator 36, which may be invoked by a user at will to optimize a set of disk block allocations, e.g. disk blocks that are targets of a sequence of disk accesses, such as those made by application 32. Disk block reallocator 36 includes tracer 38, reallocation optimizer 40 and reallocation engine 42. Tracer 38 traces the disk accesses made by application 32. In one embodiment, tracer 38 first traces logical file accesses made by application 32, then subsequently maps the traced logical file accesses to physical disk blocks accessed. In an alternate embodiment, tracer 38 traces the physical disk blocks accessed directly. For the illustrated embodiment, operating system 34 provides I/O read/write services for accessing disk drives, and application 32 utilizes these I/O read/write services when accessing file data stored on disk drives. Furthermore, operating system 34 provides event notification services, and tracer 38 leverages on these services to directly or indirectly trace disk accesses performed by application 32. Tracer 38 logs the physical trace results in access trace 44.

Reallocation optimizer 40 is used to generate, if possible, an alternate disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time for the sequence of disk accesses, using the physical trace results logged in access trace 44. If successful, reallocation optimizer 40 generates reallocation vector 46 setting forth the manner in which the disk blocks should be reallocated. Reallocation engine 42 is then used to effectuate the reallocation as stipulated by reallocation vector 46.

In FIG. 3b, the disk block allocation optimization function of the present invention is packaged as disk block reallocator 36′, which is an integral part of application 32′. More specifically, for the illustrated embodiment, disk block reallocator 36′ is an integral part of installation utility 35′ of application 32′. Integrated disk block allocator 36′ is used to optimize the disk block allocation for the disk blocks accessed during start up of application 32′. Similarly, disk block reallocator 36′ includes tracer 38′, reallocation optimizer 40′ and reallocation engine 42′. Tracer 38′ traces the disk accesses made by application 32′ during start-up. In one embodiment, tracer 38′ first traces logical file accesses made by application 32′, then subsequently maps the traced logical file accesses to physical disk blocks accessed. In an alternate embodiment, tracer 38′ traces the physical disk blocks accessed directly. For the illustrated embodiment, operating system 34′ provides I/O read/write services for accessing disk drives, and application 32′ utilizes these I/O read/write services when accessing file data stored on disk drives. Furthermore, operating system 34′ provides event notification services, and tracer 38′ leverages on these services to directly or indirectly trace disk accesses performed by application 32′. Tracer 38′ logs the physical trace results in access trace 44′.

In like manner, reallocation optimizer 40′ is used to generate, if possible, an alternate disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time for the disk blocks accessed by application 32′ during start-up, using physical trace results logged in access trace 44. If successful, reallocation optimizer 40 generates reallocation vector 46 setting forth the manner in which the disk blocks should be reallocated. Reallocation engine 42 is then used to effectuate the reallocation as stipulated by reallocation vector 46.

In FIG. 3c, tracer 38″ is packaged as an integral part of operating system 34″, and the remainder of the disk block allocation optimization function of the present invention is packaged as complementary disk block reallocator 36″. Complemented disk block allocator 36″ is used to optimize the disk block allocation for the disk blocks accessed during start-up/booting of operating system 34″. Tracer 38″ traces the disk accesses made by operating system 34″ during start-up/boot-up. Tracer 38′ logs the physical trace results in an access trace (not shown). In one embodiment, tracer 38″ first traces logical file accesses made by operating system 34″, then subsequently maps the traced logical file accesses to physical disk blocks accessed. In an alternate embodiment, tracer 38″ traces the physical disk blocks accessed directly.

Complementary disk block reallocator 36″ includes tracer reallocation optimizer 40″ and reallocation engine 42″. Reallocation optimizer 40″ is used to generate, if possible, an alternate disk block allocation that will yield improved overall access time for the disk blocks accessed by operating system 34″ during start-up/boot-up, using physical trace results logged in access trace. If successful, reallocation optimizer 40″ generates a reallocation vector (not shown) setting forth the manner in which the disk blocks should be reallocated. Reallocation engine 42″ is then used to effectuate the reallocation as stipulated by reallocation vector 46″.

FIGS. 4a-4 c illustrates tracer 38, including one embodiment where tracer 38 first traces file accesses, then subsequently maps the traced file accesses to physical disk blocks. As shown in FIG. 4a, for the illustrated embodiment, upon invocation, tracer 38 registers itself with operating system 34, denoting its interest in file/disk accesses, in particular, the logical/physical locations accessed, step 52. Upon registering itself, tracer 38 waits for the requested information to be returned from operating system 34, and logs the access data as they are returned, as long as the trace period has not elapsed, steps 54-58. Tracer 38 may be encoded or dynamically provided with the length of the trace period.

FIG. 4b illustrates one embodiment of a logical access trace 43. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, logical access trace 43 includes a number of file access records 61. Each access record 61 includes an access identifier 63 identifying the access sequence number, a file identifier 65 identifying the file accessed, the file access operation performed 67, e.g. read, write or open, an offset into the file accessed 69, and the size of the data accessed 71, e.g. the number of bytes.

FIG. 4c illustrates one embodiment of the mapping operation flow of tracer 38. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, the mapping process starts at step 51, where tracer 38 retrieves a logical file access record 61. Next, based on the file identification information 71, tracer 38 determine the disk blocks allocated to the file accessed, step 53. Then, based on access offset and size information 67 and 69, tracer 38 computes the specific disk blocks accessed, step 55. Once computed, tracer 38 outputs the physical disk block information into access trace 44, step 57. Tracer 38 repeats the above described steps until it is determined at step 59 that all logical file access records have been processed.

Either the direct or the indirect tracing approach described above may be employed to practice the present invention. The direct approach has the advantage of being simpler to implement, however it requires tracing to be re-performed each time optimization is to be performed, even though it is for the same access interest. On the other hand, the indirect approach involves additional complexity, however it has the advantage of just having to re-perform the mapping operation (as oppose to re-tracing), whenever optimization is re-performed for the same access interest.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of physical access trace 44. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, physical access trace 44 includes a number of physical access records 62. Each physical access record 62 includes an access identifier 64 identifying the access sequence number, and the disk blocks accessed 66.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of reallocation optimizer 40. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, upon invocation, reallocation optimizer 40 processes the trace data recorded in physical access trace 44 to obtain the current disk block allocation for the sequence of file/disk accesses of interest, i.e. the disk locations accessed, and in turn generates the cumulative access time for the current disk block allocation, step 72. Next, reallocation optimizer 40 notes that current disk block allocation as the optimal disk block allocation, and the current cumulative access time as the optimal cumulative access time, step 74.

Having done so, reallocation optimizer 40 generates an alternate disk block allocation with randomized incremental changes, step 76. Randomized incremental changes may be synthesized in accordance with any number of such techniques known in the art. Using the generated alternate disk block allocation, reallocation optimizer 40 determines a new cumulative access time for the sequence of disk accesses of interest, step 78. If the generated alternate disk block allocation yields improved overall access time, i.e. the new cumulative access time is better than the “optimal” cumulative access time, reallocation optimizer 40 notes the generated alternate disk block allocation as the optimal disk block allocation, and the new cumulative access time as the optimal cumulative access time, step 82. Otherwise, step 82 is skipped.

Steps 76-80 and conditionally step 82 are repeated until a predetermined condition for terminating the search for alternate disk block allocation that yields improved overall access time has been met. A variety of termination conditions may be employed. For example, reallocation optimizer 40 may be encoded or dynamically provided with a parameter delimiting the “length” of search, in terms of total evaluation or elapsed time, number of alternate reallocation schemes evaluated, etc. At the conclusion of the search, reallocation optimizer 40 generates reallocation vector 46 denoting the reallocation to be performed, based on the optimal disk block allocation, step 86. For the illustrated embodiment, if the optimal disk block allocation was never updated, i.e. no disk block allocation yielding improved overall access time was found, reallocation vector 46 is a null vector.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternate embodiment of reallocation optimizer 40. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, upon invocation, similar to the earlier described embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 processes the trace data recorded in access trace 44 to obtain the current disk block allocation for the sequence of disk accesses of interest, i.e. the disk locations accessed, and in turn computes the cumulative access time for the current disk block allocation, step 91. Next, unlike the earlier described embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 coalesces the disk blocks, step 92. Coalescing the disk blocks may be performed in any one of a number of known techniques. One approach will be briefly described later.

Having coalesced the disk blocks, reallocation optimizer 40 proceeds to analyze the trace data and groups the disk accesses into access runs, step 94. FIG. 8 illustrates the concept of access runs. Illustrated therein is a hypothetical sequence of disk accesses, access 1 through access 9, against the enumerated blocks in the order shown. For this hypothetical sequence of disk accesses, blocks 2, 7 and 5 are always accessed as a “run”. These blocks are accessed in order during access 1 through access 3, and then during access 5 through access 7. Likewise, blocks 8 and 10 are also considered as a “run”, except it is accessed only once. Block 4 is a “run” with a run length of one.

Return now to FIG. 7, having grouped the accesses into access runs, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the disk block on an access run basis. For the illustrated embodiment, the “longer” access runs are reallocated first, step 96, before the “shorter” access runs are reallocated, step 98. “Longer” access runs are access runs with run lengths greater than a predetermined run length threshold (L1), whereas “shorter” access runs are access runs with run length shorter than L1. The value of L1 is application dependent, and is empirically determined. In one embodiment, L1 is set to 64. After, both the “longer” as well as the “shorter” access runs have been reallocated, reallocation optimizer 40 generates reallocation vector 46 as the earlier described embodiment.

FIGS. 9-10 illustrate one embodiment each for reallocating the “longer” and “shorter” access runs. As shown in FIG. 9, for the illustrated embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the “longer” access runs to contiguous disk regions at both ends of a disk, alternating between the two ends, until all “longer” access runs have been reallocated. At step 152, reallocation optimizer 40 determines if there are still “longer” access runs to be reallocated. If the determination is affirmative, for the illustrated embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the longest of the remaining “longer” run to the “top most” portion of the disk region, step 154. At step 156, reallocation optimizer 40 again determines if there are still “longer” access runs to be reallocated. If the determination is affirmative, for the illustrated embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the longest of the remaining “longer” run to the “bottom most” portion of the disk region, step 158. Steps 152-158 are repeated until all “longer” access runs have been reallocated. As steps 154 and 158 are repeated, the “top most” portion bound reallocations are reallocated in a “top down” manner, whereas the “bottom most” portion bound reallocation are reallocated in a “bottom up” manner. In other words, the “center” portion of the disk region is left unallocated at the end of the “longer” access run reallocation.

As shown in FIG. 10, for the illustrated embodiment, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the “shorter” access runs, by first arbitrarily picking one of the “shorter” access runs, step 162. Then the successor “shorter” access runs to the selected “shorter” access run are reallocated near the selected “shorter” access run based on their likelihood of occurrence, i.e. the frequency of occurrence of the successor “shorter” access run, steps 164-166. A successor access run is simply an access run that follows the selected access run. Steps 164-166 are then repeated until all successor access runs to the selected access run are reallocated. Then, the entire “shorter” access run reallocation process, i.e. steps 162-166 are repeated until all “shorter” access runs have been reallocated.

The two approaches to reallocating “longer” and “shorter” access runs are complementary to each other. Together the two approaches provide the advantage of reducing the access time of the “shorter” access runs, since they are all concentrated at the “center” portion of the disk region, and the advantage of spreading the higher cost of moving to the end portions of the disk region over a larger number of accesses, since a number of successive accesses will be made at the end portions once the actuator is moved there.

Returning now to the topic of coalescing disk blocks of a disk drive. FIGS. 11-14 illustrate one approach for achieving the desired coalescing of disk blocks. As shown, for the illustrated approach, reallocation optimizer 40 first determines if both the smallest unused disk region₁ as well as the smallest used region are smaller than a predetermined size, step 102. The value of the predetermined size is also application dependent, and empirically determined. In one embodiment, a value of 64 is also used for the predetermined size. If the determination is affirmative, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates all or a portion of the smallest used disk region into the smallest unused disk region, step 104 (see also FIG. 12). Steps 102-104 are repeated until either the smallest unused disk region or the smallest used disk region is greater than or equal to the predetermined size. Together, these two steps have the effect of filling up the small “in-between” unused disk regions, and eliminate the small “in-between” used disk regions, as illustrated by FIG. 12.

₁For the purpose of this application, an unused disk region is a disk region not accessed during the trace, the disk region may or may not have been allocated.

Next, for the illustrated approach, reallocation optimizer 40 determines if the smallest unused disk region is smaller than the predetermined size, step 106. If the determination is affirmative, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates one or both of the two used disk regions bounding the smallest unused disk region, by shifting one towards the other, or both towards each other, step 108 (see also FIG. 13). Steps 106-108 are repeated until the smallest unused disk region is greater than or equal to the predetermined size. Together, these two steps have the effect of eliminating the “in-between” small unused disk regions as illustrated by FIG. 13.

Next, for the illustrated approach, reallocation optimizer 40 determines if the smallest used disk region is smaller than the predetermined size, step 110. If the determination is affirmative, reallocation optimizer 40 reallocates the smallest used disk region, by shifting it towards the closest neighboring used disk region, step 112 (see also FIG. 14). Steps 110-112 are repeated until the smallest used disk region is greater than or equal to the predetermined size. Together, these two steps have the effect of eliminating any “in-between” used disk regions as illustrated by FIG. 14.

While at first brush, the two embodiments for generating an alternate disk block allocation that yields improved overall access time appear to be very different, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, they are really two species of a genus of approaches to practically and optimally solving the cost function of overall access time, expressed in terms of disk block allocation, i.e. Min. C{b1, b2, . . . , bn}, where C{ } is the cost function of overall access time, and (b1, b2, . . . bn) is a set of disk block allocation.

Returning now briefly to FIGS. 3a-3 c, in one embodiment, reallocation vector 46, 46′ and 46″ specifies the disk block relocations to be performed in a conventional destination oriented manner. However, reallocation engine 36, 36′ and 36″ includes a transform function for annotating reallocation vector 46, 46′ and 46″ with data source information, and equipped with a source oriented data move technique that effectuates the desired disk block relocations keying off the annotated data source information, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/885,327, entitled Source Oriented Data Move Methodology and Applications, filed contemporaneously, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference. Furthermore, each of the three exemplary applications may further include a data block relocation de-optimization detection function for detecting de-optimizing by a “conflicting” optimization technique, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/885,326, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,297, entitled Data Block Relocation De-optimization Detection Methodology and Applications, filed contemporaneously, which is also hereby fully incorporated by reference.

FIG. 15 illustrates one embodiment of a computer system suitable for programming in accordance with the teachings of the present invention described above. As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, computer system 200 includes processor 202, processor bus 206, high performance I/O bus 210 and standard I/O bus 220. Processor bus 206 and high performance I/O bus 210 are bridged by host bridge 208, whereas I/O buses 210 and 212 are bridged by I/O bus bridge 212. Coupled to processor bus 206 is cache 204. Coupled to high performance I/O bus 210 are system memory 214 and video memory 216, against which video display 218 is coupled. Coupled to standard I/O bus 220 are disk drive 222, keyboard and pointing device 224 and communication interface 226.

These elements perform their conventional functions known in the art. In particular, disk drive 222 and system memory 214 are used to store a permanent and a working copy of the programming instructions for effectuating the teachings of the present invention, when executed by processor 202. The permanent copy may be pre-loaded into disk drive 222 in factory, loaded from distribution medium 228, or down loaded from on-line distribution source 230. Disk drive 222 and system memory 214 may also be used to store similar copies of operating system 34. The constitutions of these elements are known. Any one of a number of implementations of these elements known in the art may be used to form computer system 200.

While the method and apparatus of the present invention have been described in terms of the above illustrated embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described. The present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.

Thus, a disk block allocation optimization methodology and its applications have been described. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising (a) an execution unit for executing programming instructions; and (b) a storage medium coupled to the execution unit and having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the execution unit for implementing a disk block allocation optimization function, including first logic for first tracing a sequence of logical file accesses of interest, then mapping the traced logical file accesses to physical disk blocks, and outputting the mapped physical disk blocks as trace data, and second logic for analyzing the trace data, and generating a new set of disk blocks to reallocate the accessed disk blocks such that overall access time will be improved, the new set of disk blocks being generated in accordance with the results of the trace data analysis.
 2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first logic includes logic for generating a logical file access record for each logical file access made, each logical file access record including a file identifier identifying a file accessed, an operation identifier identifying a file operation performed, an offset into the file accessed, and a data quantity denoting the amount of data accessed.
 3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating a remapping vector mapping the disk blocks accessed to the new set of disk blocks.
 4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the data block allocation optimization function further includes third logic for relocating data stored in the disk blocks accessed to the new set of disk blocks using the remapping vector.
 5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second logic includes logic for optimizing a cost function of overall access time which is functionally dependent on disk blocks accessed, to generate the new set of disk blocks.
 6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating a new set of disk blocks, and determining if the generated new set of disk blocks yields improvement on overall access time.
 7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein the second logic includes logic for repeating the generation of an arbitrary set of disk blocks, and the determination of whether the generated arbitrary set of disk blocks yields improvement on overall access time.
 8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the second logic includes logic for coalescing disk blocks of a disk drive.
 9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the second logic includes logic for grouping the disk accesses into access runs.
 10. The apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating new disk blocks for the disk blocks accessed by the various access runs.
 11. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating new disk blocks from top most portions of a disk region in a top down manner for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating new disk blocks from bottom most portions of a disk region in a bottom up manner for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the second logic includes logic for alternatingly generating new disk blocks from top most portions of a disk region in a top down manner and from bottom most portions of the disk region in a bottom up manner for access runs having run length of a particular type.
 14. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the second logic includes logic for generating new disk blocks from center portions of a disk region for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 15. The apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein the second logic for generating new disk blocks from center portions of a disk region for access runs having run lengths of a particular type, generates the new disk blocks factoring into consideration likelihood of occurrence of interrelated access runs of the same type.
 16. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the disk block allocation optimization function is packaged as a standalone utility that can be invoked by a user at will to optimize disk block allocation of any arbitrary sequence of file accesses.
 17. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the disk block allocation optimization function is packaged as an integral part of an application for optimizing disk block allocations for disk blocks accessed by file accesses of the application during start-up of the application.
 18. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first is packaged as an integral part of an operating system and the second logic is packaged as a standalone complementary function for optimizing disk block allocations for disk blocks accessed by file accesses of the operating system during start-up/boot time.
 19. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a computer system.
 20. A machine implemented method comprising the steps of: a) tracing a sequence of logical file accesses of interest; b) mapping the traced logical file accesses to physical data blocks, and outputting the mapped physical data blocks as trace; c) analyzing the trace data, and generating, if possible, a new set of disk blocks that yield improvement on overall access time, over the disk blocks accessed.
 21. The method as set forth in claim 20, wherein the method further includes the step of (d) generating a remapping vector mapping the disk blocks accessed to the new set of disk blocks, if step (c) was successful in generating the new set of disk blocks.
 22. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 20, wherein the method further includes the step (e) relocating the disk blocks accessed to the new set of disk blocks using the remapping vector, if step (d) was performed.
 23. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 20, wherein step (c) includes optimizing a cost function of overall access time which is functionally dependent on disk blocks accessed.
 24. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 23, wherein the cost function optimization of step (c) includes generating a new set of disk blocks, and determining if the generated arbitrary set of disk blocks yields improvement on overall access time.
 25. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 24, wherein the cost function optimization of step (c) further includes repeating the generation of an arbitrary set of disk blocks, and the determination of whether the generated arbitrary set of disk blocks yields improvement on overall access time.
 26. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 23, wherein step (c) further includes coalescing disk blocks of a disk drive.
 27. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 23, wherein step (c) further includes grouping the disk accesses into access runs.
 28. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 27, wherein the generation of new disk blocks for the disk blocks accessed of step (c) is performed by generating new disk blocks for the various access runs.
 29. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 28, wherein the generation of new disk blocks of step (c) includes generating new disk blocks from top most portions of a disk region in a top down manner for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 30. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 28, wherein the generation of new disk blocks of step (c) includes generating new disk blocks from bottom most portions of a disk region in a bottom up manner for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 31. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 28, wherein the generation of new disk blocks of step (c) includes alternatingly generating new disk blocks from top most portions of a disk region in a top down manner and from bottom most portions of the disk region in a bottom up manner for access runs having run length of a particular type.
 32. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 28, wherein the generation of new disk blocks of step (c) includes generating new disk blocks from center portions of a disk region for access runs having run lengths of a particular type.
 33. The machine implemented method as set forth in claim 32, wherein the generation of new disk blocks from center portions of a disk region for access runs having run lengths of a particular type, includes factoring into consideration likelihood of occurrence of interrelated access runs of the same type.
 34. A storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the execution unit for implementing a disk block allocation optimization function, including first logic for first tracing a sequence of logical file accesses of interest, then mapping the traced logical file accesses to physical data blocks, and outputting the mapped physical data blocks as trace data, and second logic for analyzing the trace data, and generating a new set of disk blocks to reallocate the accessed disk blocks such that overall access time will be improved, the new set of disk blocks being generated in accordance with the results of the trace data analysis.
 35. The storage medium as set forth in claim 34, wherein the second logic include logic for optimizing a cost function of overall access time, which is functionally dependent on disk blocks accessed, to generate the new set of disk blocks.
 36. The storage medium as set forth in claim 35, wherein the second logic include logic for generating a new set of disk blocks, and determining if the generated new set of disk blocks yields improvement in overall access time.
 37. The storage medium as set forth in claim 36, wherein the second logic include logic for repeating the generation of an arbitrary set of disk blocks, and the determination of whether the generated arbitrary set of disk blocks yields improvement in overall access time.
 38. The storage medium as set forth in claim 35, wherein the second logic include logic for coalescing disk blocks of a disk drive. 